Trial to start for 'kidnapping and murder crew'

San Diego  More than two years have passed since 17 suspected members of a group known as Los Palillos, which prosecutors have described as a “kidnapping and murder crew,” were indicted in a series of armed robberies, kidnappings and brutal killings.

The homicides, marked by bodies being dumped in ditches or dissolved in acid, offer a vivid example of drug cartel violence that has plagued Mexican border communities spilling into the U.S.

On Wednesday, the first of three trials for suspected members of Los Palillos — Spanish for “the toothpicks” — is set to begin in San Diego Superior Court.

First to be tried are Jose Olivera Beritan, 38, and David Valencia, 41, who pleaded not guilty in August 2009 to charges including kidnapping for ransom, robbery and murder. If convicted, each faces life in prison without parole.

Defense lawyers have said little publicly about the case. They, as well as the prosecution, will have an opportunity Wednesday to outline for the jury what they believe the evidence will show.

The trial is expected to last about two months.

According to documents filed by prosecutors, Olivera emigrated from Cuba to Miami, then moved to Kansas City in 2006 where he worked with drug traffickers who distributed marijuana and methamphetamine. It was there that he met members of Los Palillos and later began working with them in San Diego.

Valencia, a marijuana dealer and drug trafficker who lived in Chula Vista, had been targeted to be kidnapped by Los Palillos, prosecutors said. But in 2007, he agreed to identify other targets who were believed to be drug dealers working on behalf of the notorious and now-defunct Arellano Felix cartel in Tijuana.

In the documents, Deputy District Attorneys Mark Amador and James Fontaine contend that the gang members targeted victims who were unlikely to talk to law enforcement.

“Los Palillos believe that neither drug dealers nor persons who worked for the Tijuana cartel nor their family members would call the police when abducted and held for ransom,” the documents say. “Instead, the family would gather money from family and friends, and/or cartel associates.”

The plan worked, prosecutors said, until June 2007, when a woman notified the FBI that her husband, then 32-year-old Eduardo Gonzalez-Tostado, had been taken. After the family paid nearly $200,000 ransom, federal agents raided a Chula Vista home, where the victim had been held for eight days.

According to court documents, Valencia is accused of selecting Gonzalez-Tostado, who owned a seafood restaurant in Tijuana, as a target.

High-profile attacks in Tijuana spiked in 2008 after rival groups battled to take control of drug trafficking in the region once dominated by the Arellano Felix organization. More than 840 killings were reported in that year.

Many of the defendants indicted in 2009, both U.S. and Mexican citizens, had already been charged in a separate case resulting from the Gonzalez-Tostado incident. A woman accused of luring him into the kidnappers’ grasp was arrested and charged early last year.

Valencia pleaded guilty to kidnapping and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Olivera was awaiting trial in the case when he was indicted.

The District Attorney’s Office intends to seek the death penalty against four other defendants, whose trials are expected to begin later this year.

Prosecutors have not said why they will not seek the executions of Olivera and Valencia, if found guilty.

Steve Walker, a spokesman for Dumanis, said the office does not comment on “specific internal discussions or decision-making processes when it come to death-penalty decisions, particularly in a pending case.”